Resonator with a fluid cavity therein

- HRL Laboratories, LLC

A quartz resonator flow cell has a piezoelectric quartz wafer with an electrode, pads, and interconnects disposed on a first side thereof. The piezoelectric quartz wafer has a second electrode disposed on a second side thereof, the second electrode opposing the first electrode. A substrate is provided having fluid ports therein and the piezoelectric quartz wafer is mounted to the substrate such that the second side thereof faces the substrate with a cavity being formed between the substrate and the wafer. The fluid ports in the substrate are aligned with the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer which is in contact with the cavity.

Skip to: Description  ·  Claims  ·  References Cited  · Patent History  ·  Patent History
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/575,634 entitled “High Frequency Quartz-based Resonators and Methods of Making Same” filed on Oct. 8, 2009, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Published PCT Application WO 2006/103439 entitled “Cartridge for a Fluid Sample Analyzer” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,315, entitled “Method for Fabricating a Resonator” are hereby incorporated herein by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to high frequency quartz-based resonators, which may be used in biological analysis applications at high frequencies such as VHF and/or UHF frequencies, and methods of making same.

BACKGROUND

Small biological detectors using quartz mass sensing currently are commercially implemented using low frequency (˜10 MHz) quartz resonators on macro-size substrates mounted on plastic disposable cartridges for biological sample exposure and electrical activation.

Previous quartz resonators used in biological analysis have utilized flat quartz substrates with electrodes deposited on opposite sides of the quartz for shear mode operation in liquids. In order for the substrates not to break during fabrication and assembly, the quartz substrate needs to be of the order of 100 microns thick. This sets a frequency limit for the resonator of roughly ˜20 MHz since the frequency is inversely proportional to the thickness.

Chemically etching inverted mesas has been used to produce higher frequency resonators, but this usually produces etch pits in the quartz that can result in a porous resonator which is not suitable for liquid isolation.

However, it is well known that the relative frequency shift for quartz sensors for a given increase in the mass per unit area is proportional to the resonant frequency as given by the Sauerbrey equation. Therefore, it is desirable to operate the sensor at a high frequency (UHF) and thus use ultra-thin substrates that have not been chemically etched.

It is also desirable to minimize the diffusion path length in the analyte solution to the sensor surface to minimize the reaction time needed to acquire a given increase in the mass per unit area. Thus, the dimension of the flow cell around the sensor in the direction perpendicular to the sensor should be minimized. Currently, this dimension is determined by the physical thickness of adhesive tape (WO 2006/103439 A2) and is of the order of 85 microns. It is desirable not to increase this dimension when implementing a higher frequency resonator. In addition, the alignment of tape and the quartz resonators can be difficult and unreliable thereby causing operational variations.

Current UHF quartz MEMS resonators fabricated for integration with electronics (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,315) can not be used in commercial low cost sensor cartridges since one metal electrode can not be isolated in a liquid from the other electrode and electrical connections can not be made outside the liquid environment.

Commercial quartz resonators are formed by lapping and polishing small 1-2 inch quartz substrates to approximately the proper frequency and then chemically etching away the unwanted quartz between the resonators. Chemical etching is also used to fine tune the frequencies and to etch inverted mesas for higher frequency operation. However, as stated above, handling and cracking issues usually dictate that the lapped and polished thicknesses are of the order of 100 microns, and chemically etching deep inverted mesas produces etch pits which significantly reduce the yield and can result in a porous resonator. This invention suggests utilizing the previously disclosed (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,315 mentioned above) handle wafer technology for handling large thin quartz substrates for high frequency operation plus double inverted mesa technology using dry etching for providing high frequency non-porous resonators with (1) a thick frame for minimizing mounting stress changes in the resonator frequencies once a flow cell is formed, (2) a thin flow cell for reducing the sensor reaction time, and (3) quartz through wafer vias for isolating the active electrodes and electrical interconnects from the flow cell. Since, to the inventor's understanding, commercial manufacturers do not use quartz plasma etching for defining thin non-porous membranes nor quartz through-wafer vias for conventional packaging, the current fabrication and structure would not be obvious to one skilled in the art familiar with this conventional technology.

There is a need for even smaller biological detectors, which can effectively work with even smaller sample volumes yet having even greater sensitivity than prior art detectors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a quart resonator including a piezoelectric quartz wafer having an electrode, pads, and interconnects disposed on a first side thereof, having a second electrode disposed on a second side thereof, the second electrode being disposed opposing the first mentioned electrode, and having at least one penetration for coupling the electrode on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer to one of the pads on said first side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer; and a substrate with fluid ports provided therein, the piezoelectric quartz wafer being mounted to the substrate such the second side thereof faces the substrate with a cavity being defined between the substrate and the wafer and such that the fluid ports in the substrate are aligned with the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby forming a flow cell in the cavity with the electrode disposed on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being in contact with said flow cell and the electrode formed on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being disposed on said wafer opposite said flow cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1(a)-1(l) depict, in a series of side elevational views, steps which may be used to make the sensor described herein and also serve to show its internal construction details; and

FIG. 2 is a top view of the sensor described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1(a)-1(l) depict, in a series of side elevational views, steps which may be used to make the sensor described herein. These elevation views are taken along a section line 1-1 depicted in FIG. 2.

The formation of the disclosed sensor starts with a piezoelectric quartz wafer 10 preferably 3″˜ 4″ in diameter, AT-cut, with a thickness of preferably about 350 microns. As shown in FIG. 1(a), a mask 14 in combination with a dry plasma etch 11 (to prevent the formation of etch pits), are preferably used to form inverted mesas 12 (see FIG. 1(b)) etched in a top or first surface of wafer 10. Mask 14 is preferably formed of a thick resist or metal such as Ni or Al. In this connection, a solid layer of Ni or Al is may be put down and then a conventional photo-mask may be used to etch the Ni or Al in order to make mask 14 out of that metal. The preferred approach is to electroplate Ni onto a resist mold to form mask 14. This dry plasma etch 11 through mask 14 is optional, but is preferred, and it preferably etches about 10 to 20 microns deep into the piezoelectric quartz wafer 10 through the openings in mask 14 thereby forming inverted mesas 12 and preferably one or more additional regions 16. Regions 16 are also preferably etched at the same time for eventually cleaving or separating the quartz 10 into a plurality of sensors made on a common quartz wafer 10 along dicing lanes.

Next, the mask 14 is stripped away and interconnect metal 18, preferably comprising Cr/Ni/Au, is formed for use in help forming vias (which will be more fully formed later wherein a portion of the interconnect metal acts an as etch stop 18′). Additionally, top side (or first side) electrodes 20 are formed at the same time preferably comprising Cr/Ni/Au. Metal pads 221-223 are also formed, preferably of Cr/Au, for cartridge pins. The interconnect metal 18 (including etch stops 18′), electrodes 20 and pads 221-223 are formed as shown in FIGS. 1(c) and 2. A spray resist may be utilized to define the pattern of the metalization for interconnect metal 18 and top side electrodes 20 in the inverted mesas 12 and the metalization for pads 22 on unetched surfaces of quartz wafer 10. The pads 221-223 are collectively numbered 22 in FIG. 1(d).

The interconnect metal 18 preferably interconnects pad 223 and the top side electrode 20 and preferably interconnects pads 221 and 222 and with metal plugs 30 to be formed in the yet to be formed vias 28. See FIG. 2.

Turning now to FIG. 1(d), the top or first side 15 of the quartz wafer 10 is then bonded, preferably at a low temperature (for example, less than ° C.), to a Si handle wafer 24 shown in FIG. 1(d) for further thinning and polishing of the quartz wafer 10 using lapping, grinding, and/or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), for example. Handle wafer 24 preferably has one or more inverted mesas 26 for receiving the topside pads 221-223 disposed on the unetched top or first surface 15 of wafer 10. The quartz wafer 10 is then preferably thinned to about 2-50 microns depending on final design requirements. The quartz wafer 10 typically starts out being thicker, since it is commercially available in thicknesses greater than needed, and therefor quartz wafer 10 typically should be thinned to a desired thickness, preferably in the range of 10 to 50 microns.

Next the inverted quartz wafer 10 is plasma etched again, preferably using the same Ni or Al metal mask and photo-resist masking technique as described above, with a mask 17 and a dry etch 19 (see FIG. 1(e)) to form inverted mesas 12′ and dicing lanes 16′ in the bottom side or second surface 13 of the quartz wafer 10, the inverted mesas 12′ and dicing lanes 16′ being preferably aligned with the top side inverted mesas 12 and dicing lanes 16 respectively, as shown in FIG. 1(f). In combination with bonding adhesive or tape 32 (see FIG. 1(j)) thickness used on a cartridge 34, the bottom etch depth defines a vertical dimension of a yet-to-be-formed flow cell 38 (see FIG. 1(l)).

Turning now to FIG. 1(g), vias 28 are then etched against etch stops 18′, preferably using a dry etch, in the depicted structure and dicing lanes 16″ are preferably etched through by joining the previously etched regions 16 and 16′. The etching of vias 28 stop against the Ni layer in etch stop layer 18′ in the top-side interconnect metalization 18 as shown in FIG. 1(g). As previously mentioned, the etch stop layer 18′ is preferably Cr/Ni/Au, so the Cr layer thereof is etched through and the dry etching stops at the Ni layer thereof. This etch stop layer 18′ is preferably formed by the interconnect metal 18. The vias 28 are then coated with preferably a metal using a thick resist process to electrically connect to interconnect 18 exposed in the vias 28 to form plugs 30. A coated metal, such as a sputter layer, for example, is used to cover the exposed interconnect in the via opening 28 with a conformal metal layer 30 such as a sputtered Au layer for connecting the bottom electrodes 20′ to top-side interconnects 18 and to pin pad 223. Finally, bottom electrode metal 20′ is deposited as shown in FIG. 1(h). The final resonator quartz thickness is preferably about 2-10 microns measured between the metal electrodes 20, 20′ while the quartz frame surrounding the inverted mesas 12, 12′ is perhaps 30-50 microns in thickness. However, a simplified process is envisioned in which one of both inverted mesa etches are omitted (so inverted mesas 12, 12′ are formed on only one side of the quartz wafer 10 or on neither side thereof), in which case the quartz wafer 10 is left planar or quasi-planar with a thinned thickness of about 10 microns.

The completed wafer 10 is then diced along dicing lines 16″ to yield individual dies of two or more resonators mounted on a Si handle wafer 24 as shown in FIG. 1(i). The final assembly to a plastic cartridge 34 (a bottom portion of which is depicted in FIG. 1(j)) is accomplished (see FIG. 1(k)) using die bonding to an adhesive 32 located on the cartridge 34. This adhesive 32 can be, for example, in the form of a kapton polyimide tape with a silicone (for example) adhesive layer or a seal ring of epoxy applied with an appropriate dispensing system. Other adhesives may be used if desired or preferred. Once bonded to the cartridge 34, the resonators are released preferably using a dry etch 35 such as SF6 plasma etching and/or XeF2 to remove the Si handle wafer 24 as shown in FIGS. 1(k) and 1(l). Of course, this etching step should not significantly etch the adhesive 32. A top section of the cartridge 34, such as the cartridge described in published PCT Application WO 2006/103439 A2, can then be aligned and adhered to the bottom portion for use as shown by FIG. 1(l). Openings 36 in the cartridge 34 allow a fluid (depicted by the arrows) to enter and exit a chamber 38 defined by the walls of the inverted mesas. Alternatively, the dicing may be accomplished after attachment of the cartridge whereby the cartridges could be formed as an array mounted on a thin plastic sheet and brought into contact with a plurality of dies all at the same time.

The resonators are electrically excited by signals applied on the top pads as shown in the top-view drawing in FIG. 2. An analyte flows through the resonator along the flow paths shown by the arrows in FIG. 1(l) into and out of chambers 38 defined in the resonators. The pad 223 is preferably connected to a ground associated with the resonator detector signal. Pads 221 and 222 are connected to the electrodes 20 on the first side of the piezoelectric wafer 10. In this way the electrode 20′ on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is grounded and the analyte in chamber 38 is exposed to the grounded electrode 20′ on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer 10, thereby preventing electrical coupling of detector signals obtained at pads 221 and 222 from the electrodes 20 on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer 10 to the analyte in chamber 38.

The dimensions of the chambers 38 are preferably on the order of 400×400 μm square and 40 μm deep, yielding a sample volume of approximately 6.4×10−6 cc (6.4 mL).

In broad overview, this description has disclosed a method for fabricating VHF and/or UHF quartz resonators (for higher sensitivity) in a cartridges design with the quartz resonators requiring much smaller sample volumes than required by conventional resonators, and also enjoying smaller size and more reliable assembly. MEMS fabrication approaches are used to fabricate with quartz resonators in quartz cavities with electrical interconnects on a top side of a substrate for electrical connection to the electronics preferably through pressure pins in a plastic module. An analyte is exposed to grounded electrodes on a single side of the quartz resonators, thereby preventing electrical coupling of the detector signals through the analyte. The resonators can be mounted on the plastic cartridge or on arrays of plastic cartridges with the use of inert bonding material, die bonding or wafer bonding techniques. This allows the overall size, cost, and required biological sample volume to be reduced while increasing the sensitivity for detecting small mass changes.

At least the following concepts have been presented by the present description.

Concept 1. A method of fabricating quartz resonators comprising:

forming electrodes, pads, and interconnects on a first side of a piezoelectric quartz wafer;

bonding the quartz substrate to one or more handle wafers;

etching vias in the piezoelectric quartz wafer;

forming electrodes and interconnects on a second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer;

forming metal plugs in said vias to connect the electrodes on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer to the pads on said first side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer;

dicing the piezoelectric quartz wafer along dicing lines formed therein to thereby define a plurality of dies, each die having at least one metal electrode formed on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer thereof and at least one opposing metal electrode formed on the

second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer thereof;

adhering the dies to a substrate with fluid ports therein, the fluid ports being associated with the electrodes of the die, thereby forming at least one flow cell in each die with the at least one electrode formed on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer in said at least one flow cell and at least one opposing electrode formed on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer of said at least one die opposite said at least one flow cell; and

removing the one or more handle wafers, thereby exposing the pads on the first side of the dies, said pads, in use, providing circuit connection points for allowing electrical excitation of the electrodes.

Concept 2. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 1 further comprising etching inverted mesas in the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer wherein the electrodes formed on said first side are disposed within one or more of said inverted mesas.

Concept 3. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 2 further comprising etching inverted mesas in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer wherein the electrodes formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer are disposed within one or more of said inverted mesas formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 4. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 3 in which the inverted mesas are etched with a plasma etch.

Concept 5. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 1 further comprising etching inverted mesas in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer wherein the electrodes formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer are disposed within one or more of said inverted mesas formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 6. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 5 in which the inverted mesas are etched with a plasma etch.

Concept 7. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 1 further comprising thinning the piezoelectric quartz wafer to 2-50 microns in an active resonator region between the electrodes formed on said first and second sides of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 8. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 1 wherein the dies are adhered to said substrate with fluid ports therein using an inert polyimide-based tape or an epoxy adhesive.

Concept 9. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 1 wherein the one or more handle wafers is removed with a fluorine-based plasma etch and/or XeF2.

Concept 10. A method of analyzing an analyte using a quartz resonator made in accordance with concept 1 wherein the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is grounded and the analyte is exposed to the grounded electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby preventing electrical coupling of detector signals, obtained from the electrode on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, to the analyte.

Concept 11. A method of fabricating a quartz resonator comprising:

forming electrode, pads, and interconnects on a first side of a piezoelectric quartz wafer;

bonding the quartz substrate to a handle wafer;

    • forming at least one via in the piezoelectric quartz wafer;
    • forming an electrode on a second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer directly opposing the electrode on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer;

forming at least one metal plug in said at least one via and connecting the electrode on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer to one of the pads on said first side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer;

adhering said piezoelectric quartz wafer to a substrate with fluid ports therein, the fluid ports being aligned to the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby forming a flow cell in the quartz resonator with the electrode formed on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being disposed in said flow cell and the electrode formed on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being disposed opposite said flow cell; and

    • removing the handle wafer, thereby exposing the pads on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, said pads, in use, providing circuit connection points for allowing electrical excitation of the electrodes.

Concept 12. The method of fabricating a quartz resonator according to concept 11 further comprising etching one or more inverted mesas in the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer wherein the metal electrode formed on said first side is disposed within one of said one or more inverted mesas.

Concept 13. The method of fabricating a quartz resonator according to concept 12 further comprising etching one or more inverted mesas in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer wherein the metal electrode formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is disposed within one of said one or more inverted mesas formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 14. The method of fabricating a quartz resonator according to concept 13 wherein a plurality of electrodes are formed in a plurality of inverted mesas formed in the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer and a plurality of electrodes are formed in a plurality of inverted mesas formed in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, the inverted mesas in the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer opposing corresponding inverted mesas in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer and the electrodes formed in inverted mesas in the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer opposing corresponding electrodes formed in inverted mesas in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 15. The method of fabricating a quartz resonator according to concept 11 further comprising etching one or more inverted mesas in the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer wherein the metal electrode formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is disposed within one of said one or more inverted mesas formed on said second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 16. The method of fabricating a quartz resonator according to concept 15 in which the inverted mesas are etched with a plasma etch.

Concept 17. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 11 further comprising thinning the piezoelectric quartz wafer to 2-50 microns in an active resonator region between opposing electrodes formed on said first and second sides of the piezoelectric quartz wafer.

Concept 18. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 11 wherein the piezoelectric quartz wafer is adhered to said substrate with fluid ports therein using an inert polyimide-based tape or an epoxy adhesive.

Concept 19. The method of fabricating quartz resonators according to concept 11 wherein the one or more handle wafers is removed with a fluorine-based plasma etch and/or XeF2.

Concept 20. A method of analyzing an analyte using a quartz resonator made in according with concept 11 wherein the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is grounded and the analyte is exposed to the grounded electrodes on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby preventing electrical coupling of detector signals, obtained from the electrode on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, to the analyte.

Concept 21. A quart resonator for comprising:

a piezoelectric quartz wafer with an electrode, pads, and interconnects disposed on a first side thereof, piezoelectric quartz wafer having a second electrode disposed on a second side thereof, the second electrode opposing the first mentioned electrode, the electrode on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer being connected to one of the pads on said first side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer; and

a substrate having fluid ports therein, the piezoelectric quartz wafer being mounted to the substrate such the second side thereof faces the substrate with a cavity being defined between the substrate and the wafer and such that the fluid ports in the substrate are aligned with the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby forming a flow cell in the cavity with the electrode disposed on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being in contact with said flow cell and the electrode formed on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being disposed on the first side of said wafer and opposite to said flow cell.

Concept 22. The quart resonator of concept 21 wherein the wafer has at least one inverted mesa defined therein for forming at least a portion of said cavity.

Concept 23. The quart resonator of concept 21 wherein the wafer as a penetration for connecting the electrode on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer to one of the pads on said first side thereof.

Concept 24. The quart resonator of concept 21 wherein an analyte is in said cavity and wherein the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is grounded and detector signals are coupled to the electrode on the first side of the wafer so that the analyte is exposed to the grounded electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby preventing electrical coupling of detector signals, from the electrode on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, to the analyte.

Having described the invention in connection with certain embodiments thereof, modification will now suggest itself to those skilled in the art. As such, the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment except as is specifically required by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A quartz resonator comprising:

a piezoelectric quartz wafer with an electrode, pads, and interconnects disposed on a first side thereof, the piezoelectric quartz wafer having a second electrode disposed on a second side thereof, the second electrode opposing the first mentioned electrode, the electrode on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer being connected to one of the pads on said first side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer; and
a substrate having fluid ports therein, the piezoelectric quartz wafer being mounted to the substrate such that the second side thereof faces the substrate with a cavity being defined between the substrate and the wafer and such that the fluid ports in the substrate are aligned with the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby forming a flow cell in the cavity with the electrode disposed on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being in contact with said flow cell and the electrode formed on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer being disposed on the first side of said wafer and opposite to said flow cell.

2. The quart resonator of claim 1 wherein the wafer has at least one inverted mesa defined therein for forming at least a portion of said cavity.

3. The quart resonator of claim 1 wherein the wafer has a penetration for connecting the electrode on said second side of said piezoelectric quartz wafer to one of the pads on said first side thereof.

4. The quart resonator of claim 1 wherein an analyte is in said cavity and wherein the electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer is grounded and detector signals are coupled to the electrode on the first side of the wafer so that the analyte is exposed to the grounded electrode on the second side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, thereby preventing electrical coupling of detector signals, from the electrode on the first side of the piezoelectric quartz wafer, to the analyte.

Referenced Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
392650 November 1888 Watrous
2487165 November 1949 Miller
3390287 June 1968 Sonderegger
3766616 October 1973 Staudte
4364016 December 14, 1982 Tanski
4426769 January 24, 1984 Grabbe
4442574 April 17, 1984 Wanuga et al.
4618262 October 21, 1986 Maydan et al.
4870313 September 26, 1989 Hirama et al.
4898031 February 6, 1990 Oikawa et al.
4944836 July 31, 1990 Beyer et al.
5203208 April 20, 1993 Bernstein
5226321 July 13, 1993 Varnham et al.
5260596 November 9, 1993 Dunn et al.
5421312 June 6, 1995 Dawson
5480747 January 2, 1996 Vasudev
5530408 June 25, 1996 Vig et al.
5552016 September 3, 1996 Ghanayem
5578976 November 26, 1996 Yao
5589724 December 31, 1996 Satoh et al.
5604312 February 18, 1997 Lutz
5605490 February 25, 1997 Laffey et al.
5644139 July 1, 1997 Allen
5646346 July 8, 1997 Okada
5648849 July 15, 1997 Canteloup et al.
5658418 August 19, 1997 Coronel et al.
5665915 September 9, 1997 Kobayashi et al.
5666706 September 16, 1997 Tomita et al.
5668057 September 16, 1997 Eda et al.
5728936 March 17, 1998 Lutz
5783749 July 21, 1998 Lee et al.
5894090 April 13, 1999 Tang et al.
5905202 May 18, 1999 Kubena et al.
5920012 July 6, 1999 Pinson
5928532 July 27, 1999 Koshimizu et al.
5942445 August 24, 1999 Kato et al.
5959206 September 28, 1999 Ryrko
5981392 November 9, 1999 Oisha
5987985 November 23, 1999 Okada
6009751 January 4, 2000 Ljung
6044705 April 4, 2000 Neukermans et al.
6049702 April 11, 2000 Tham et al.
6081334 June 27, 2000 Grimbergen et al.
6094985 August 1, 2000 Kapels et al.
6114801 September 5, 2000 Tanaka
6145380 November 14, 2000 MacGugan et al.
6151964 November 28, 2000 Nakajima
6155115 December 5, 2000 Ljung
6164134 December 26, 2000 Cargille
6182352 February 6, 2001 Deschenes et al.
6196059 March 6, 2001 Kosslinger
6204737 March 20, 2001 Ella
6207008 March 27, 2001 Kijima
6236145 May 22, 2001 Biernacki
6250157 June 26, 2001 Touge
6263552 July 24, 2001 Takeuchi et al.
6282958 September 4, 2001 Fell et al.
6289733 September 18, 2001 Challoner et al.
6297064 October 2, 2001 Koshimizu
6349597 February 26, 2002 Folkmer et al.
6367326 April 9, 2002 Okada
6367786 April 9, 2002 Gutierrez et al.
6413682 July 2, 2002 Shibano et al.
6417925 July 9, 2002 Naya
6424418 July 23, 2002 Kawabata et al.
6426296 July 30, 2002 Okojie
6432824 August 13, 2002 Yanagisawa
6481284 November 19, 2002 Geen et al.
6481285 November 19, 2002 Shkel et al.
6492195 December 10, 2002 Nakanishi
6513380 February 4, 2003 Reeds et al.
6514767 February 4, 2003 Natan
6515278 February 4, 2003 Wine et al.
6571629 June 3, 2003 Kipp
6584845 July 1, 2003 Gutierrez et al.
6614529 September 2, 2003 Tang
6621158 September 16, 2003 Martin et al.
6627067 September 30, 2003 Branton et al.
6628177 September 30, 2003 Clark et al.
6629460 October 7, 2003 Challoner
6651027 November 18, 2003 McCall
6710681 March 23, 2004 Figueredo et al.
6715352 April 6, 2004 Tracy
6750728 June 15, 2004 Takahashi
6756304 June 29, 2004 Robert
6768396 July 27, 2004 Klee et al.
6796179 September 28, 2004 Bae et al.
6806557 October 19, 2004 Ding
6815228 November 9, 2004 Usui et al.
6856217 February 15, 2005 Clark et al.
6862398 March 1, 2005 Elkind et al.
6883374 April 26, 2005 Fell et al.
6915215 July 5, 2005 Closkey
6933164 August 23, 2005 Kubena
6943484 September 13, 2005 Clark et al.
6985051 January 10, 2006 Nguyen et al.
7057331 June 6, 2006 Shimodaira et al.
7118657 October 10, 2006 Golovchenko et al.
7152290 December 26, 2006 Junhua et al.
7168318 January 30, 2007 Challoner et al.
7224245 May 29, 2007 Song et al.
7232700 June 19, 2007 Kubena
7237315 July 3, 2007 Kubena et al.
7317354 January 8, 2008 Lee
7446628 November 4, 2008 Morris, III
7459099 December 2, 2008 Kubena et al.
7459992 December 2, 2008 Matsuda et al.
7479846 January 20, 2009 Inoue et al.
7490390 February 17, 2009 Kawakubo et al.
7543496 June 9, 2009 Ayazi
7551054 June 23, 2009 Mizuno et al.
7555824 July 7, 2009 Chang
7557493 July 7, 2009 Fujimoto
7559130 July 14, 2009 Kubena et al.
7564177 July 21, 2009 Yoshimatsu
7579748 August 25, 2009 Kuroda
7579926 August 25, 2009 Jhung
7581443 September 1, 2009 Kubena
7663196 February 16, 2010 Liu et al.
7671427 March 2, 2010 Kim et al.
7675224 March 9, 2010 Tanaya
7750535 July 6, 2010 Kubena
7757393 July 20, 2010 Ayazi et al.
7791432 September 7, 2010 Piazza et al.
7802356 September 28, 2010 Chang
7830074 November 9, 2010 Kubena
7872548 January 18, 2011 Nishihara et al.
7884930 February 8, 2011 Kirby
7895892 March 1, 2011 Aigner
7994877 August 9, 2011 Kubena
8138016 March 20, 2012 Chang
8151640 April 10, 2012 Kubena
8176607 May 15, 2012 Kubena
20020066317 June 6, 2002 Lin
20020072246 June 13, 2002 Goo et al.
20020074947 June 20, 2002 Tsukamoto
20020107658 August 8, 2002 McCall
20020185611 December 12, 2002 Menapace et al.
20030003608 January 2, 2003 Arikado et al.
20030010123 January 16, 2003 Malvern et al.
20030029238 February 13, 2003 Challoner
20030196490 October 23, 2003 Cardarelli
20030205948 November 6, 2003 Lin et al.
20040055380 March 25, 2004 Shcheglov et al.
20040065864 April 8, 2004 Vogt et al.
20040189311 September 30, 2004 Glezer
20040211052 October 28, 2004 Kubena et al.
20050034822 February 17, 2005 Kim et al.
20050062368 March 24, 2005 Hirasawa
20050093659 May 5, 2005 Larson et al.
20050156309 July 21, 2005 Fuji
20050260792 November 24, 2005 Patel
20060016065 January 26, 2006 Nagaura
20060055479 March 16, 2006 Okazaki et al.
20060066419 March 30, 2006 Iwaki
20060197619 September 7, 2006 Oishi et al.
20060213266 September 28, 2006 French
20060252906 November 9, 2006 Godschalx et al.
20070017287 January 25, 2007 Kubena
20070205839 September 6, 2007 Kubena et al.
20070220971 September 27, 2007 Ayazi
20070240508 October 18, 2007 Watson
20080034575 February 14, 2008 Chang et al.
20080074661 March 27, 2008 Zhang
20080096313 April 24, 2008 Patel
20080148846 June 26, 2008 Whelan
20090189294 July 30, 2009 Chang
20100020311 January 28, 2010 Kirby
20100148803 June 17, 2010 Ohnishi et al.
20110107838 May 12, 2011 Suijlen et al.
20120000288 January 5, 2012 Matsuura et al.
20120266682 October 25, 2012 Torashima et al.
Foreign Patent Documents
44 42 033 May 1996 DE
19719601 November 1998 DE
0 461 761 December 1991 EP
0 531 985 March 1993 EP
1055908 November 2000 EP
0 971 208 December 2000 EP
57-091017 June 1982 JP
401129517 May 1989 JP
04322507 November 1992 JP
5286142 November 1993 JP
6-318533 November 1994 JP
08330878 December 1996 JP
9-247025 September 1997 JP
2003-318685 November 2003 JP
2005-180921 July 2005 JP
2006-352487 December 2006 JP
10-2001-0110428 December 2001 KR
84-00082 January 1984 WO
96/38710 December 1996 WO
98/15799 April 1998 WO
00/68640 November 2000 WO
01/44823 June 2001 WO
01/74708 October 2001 WO
02/12873 February 2002 WO
2005/121769 December 2005 WO
2006/010206 February 2006 WO
2006/103439 October 2006 WO
Other references
  • U.S. Appl. No. 10/426,931, filed Apr. 30, 2003, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 10/043,378, filed Jan. 25, 2005, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 10/458,911, filed Jul. 20, 2006, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 11/502,336, filed Aug. 9, 2006, Chang.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 11/800,289, filed May 4, 2007, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 11/800,294, filed May 4, 2007, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 11/818,797, filed Jun. 14, 2007, Kirby.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 11/881,461, filed Jul. 27, 2007, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/026,486, filed Feb. 5, 2009, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/027,247, filed Feb. 6, 2008, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/034,852, filed Feb. 21, 2008, Chang.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/145,678, filed Jun. 25, 2008, Kirby.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/179,579, filed Jul. 24, 2008, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/268,309, filed Nov. 10, 2008, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/399,680, filed Mar. 6, 2009, Chang.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/488,784, filed Jun. 22, 2009, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/820,761, filed Jun. 22, 2010, Chang.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/831,028, filed Jul. 6, 2010, Chang.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 13/163,357, filed Jun. 7, 2011, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 13/410,998, filed Mar. 2, 2012, Kubena.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 13/434,144, filed Mar. 29, 2012, Kubena.
  • Aaltonen, T., et al., “ALD of Rhodium thin films from Rh(acae), and Oxygen,” Electrochemical and Solid-State Lett. 8, C99-C101 (2005).
  • Burdess et al., “The Theory of a Piezoelectric Disc Gyroscope”, Jul. 1986, IEEE vol. AES 22, No. 4; p. 410-418.
  • Lin, J.W. et al., “A Robust High-Q Micromachined RF Inductor for RFIC Applications,” IEEE Transactions on Electronic Devices, vol. 52, No. 7, pp. 1489-1496 (Jul. 2005).
  • Park, K.J., et al., “Selective area atomic layer deposition of rhodium and effective work function characterization in capacitor structures,” Applied Physics Letters 89, 043111 (2006).
  • U.S. Appl. No. 12/575,634, filed Oct. 8, 2009, Kubena.
  • Evoy, S., et al., “Temperature-dependent internal friction in silicon nanoelectromechanical systems,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 77, No. 15, pp. 2397-2399 (Oct. 9, 2000).
  • Wright et al., “The HRG Applied to a Satellite Attitude Reference System,” Guidance and Control, AASAAS, 1994, 86:55-67.
  • Putty et al., “A Micromachined Vibrating Ring Gyroscope,”, Solid State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Transducer Research Foundation, Hilton Head, 1994, pp. 213-220.
  • Tang et al., “A Packaged Silicon MEMS Vibratory Gyroscope for Microspacecraft,” Proceedings IEEE, 10th Annual Int. Workshop on MEMS, Japan, 1997, pp. 500-505.
  • Barbour et al., “Micromechanical Silicon Instrument and Systems Development at Draper Laboratory,” AIAA Guidance Navigation and Control Conference, 1996, Paper No. 96-3709.
  • Johnson et al., “Surface Micromachined Angular Rate Sensor,” A1995 SAE Conference, Paper No. 950538, pp. 77-83.
  • Fujita et al., “Disk-shaped bulk micromachined gyroscope with vacuum sealing,” Sensors and Actuators A:Physical, vol. 82, May 2000, pp. 198-204.
  • Skulski et al., “Planar resonator sensor for moisture measurements”, Microwaves and Radar, 1998, MIKON '98, 12th International Conf., vol. 3, May 20-22, 1998, pp. 692-695.
  • Tang et al., “Silicon Bulk Micromachined Vibratory Gyroscope,” Jet Propulsion Lab.
  • Sirbuly, Donald J. et al., Multifunctional Nanowire Evanescent Wave Optical Sensors, Advanced Materials, 2007 (published online Dec. 5, 2006), 19, pp. 61-66.
  • White, Lan M., et al., Increasing the Enhancement of SERS with Dielectric Microsphere Resonators, Spectroscopy-Eugene, Apr. 2006.
  • Yan, Fei, et al., “Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection for chemical and biological agents,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 5, No. 4, Aug. 2005.
  • Abe, Takashi, et al., “One-chip multichannel quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) fabricated by Deep RIE,” Sensors and Actuators, vol. 82, pp. 139-143, 2000.
  • Cleland, A.N., et al., “Fabrication of high frequency nanometer scale mechanical resonators from bulk Si crystals,” Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 69, No. 18, pp. 2653-2655, Oct. 28, 1996.
  • Greer, J.A., et al., “Properties of SAW resonators fabricated on quartz substractes of various qualities,” Ultrasonics Symposium, Proceedings, 1994 IEEE, vol. 1, 1-4, pp. 31-36, Nov. 1994.
Patent History
Patent number: 8593037
Type: Grant
Filed: Mar 29, 2012
Date of Patent: Nov 26, 2013
Assignee: HRL Laboratories, LLC (Malibu, CA)
Inventors: Randall L. Kubena (Oak Park, CA), Tsung-Yuan Hsu (Westlake Village, CA)
Primary Examiner: Thomas Dougherty
Application Number: 13/434,144
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Air Gap (310/349); With Mechanical Energy Coupling Means (310/328); Rotation Of Crystal Axis (e.g., Cut Angle) (310/360); More Than Two (310/366); Fluid (73/521); Test Chamber (73/571); By Mechanical Waves (73/584); Vibrator (73/662); Diaphragm (73/715)
International Classification: H01L 41/053 (20060101); H01L 41/047 (20060101); H01L 41/107 (20060101); H01L 41/113 (20060101); G01P 3/26 (20060101); G01L 7/00 (20060101);